nuclear-news

What to know about Iran’s uranium enrichment and its role in the Middle East conflict

 President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to remove Iran’s “Nuclear
‘Dust” as part of an effort to ensure the nation never possesses a
nuclear weapon. A day earlier, Trump told reporters at the White House that
Iran had agreed to “give us back the nuclear dust that’s way
underground,” repeating the phrase he uses in reference to Iran’s highly
enriched uranium.

Appearing on Iranian State Television on Friday, Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Esmael Baqaei strongly rebuked Trump’s claim. “Iran’s
enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere under any
circumstances,” Baqaei said.

Iran’s nuclear program appears to remain a key
sticking point in the standoff between the two sides as the U.S.-Iran
ceasefire approaches a deadline on Tuesday. Weapons-grade uranium
enrichment comes at an ideal level of about 90%, though a crude weapon can
be deployed with material enriched at lower levels, Howard Hall, professor
of nuclear security at the University of Tennessee, told ABC News.

“There’s
nothing magic about the 90% level,” Hall said. Iran possessed about 440
kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% as of June 2025, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations watchdog group, said in a report
issued in February. That quantity of uranium is enough to produce nine or
10 nuclear bombs if enriched to weapons-grade levels, Erickson said. The
final step of enriching uranium from 60% to 90% is a relatively small task
within the overall enrichment process, analysts told ABC News. “The trick
of uranium enrichment is that most of the work is done going from natural
to low-enriched uranium,” Hall said. The further along the enrichment
process goes, the quicker the progress, Hall added. “You have small steps
that multiply over and over — it’s like compound interest,” he said.

Stockholm International Peace Institute, an independent research group, in
a report described the distance from 60% enrichment to weapons-grade as
“very short.” In March, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Steve Witkoff said the 60% enriched uranium can be brought to weapons-grade
in about a week and that the 20% enriched uranium can be brought to
weapons-grade in three to four weeks.

Iran’s uranium stockpile also
included about 9,400 kilograms of uranium enriched at lower levels as of
last June, most of which is enriched at or below 5%, the IAEA said in
February. The IAEA has not been able to verify the nuclear stockpile since
then, the group said, describing the need for inspection as “long overdue
according to standard safeguards practice.”

 ABC News 17th April 2026,
https://abcnews.com/Business/irans-uranium-enrichment-role-middle-east-conflict/story?id=132057549

April 22, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized